Celebrate the Summer Solstice with a Hot Shape Shifting Unicorn

This was an important day in ancient times. The Neolithic tribes and later the Bronze Age and Iron Age Celts lived off the land, so the sun's heat and light were vital to survival. The Neolithic British built monuments, such as Stonehenge, that framed the rising or setting of the Sun on the solstices. Most people call the longest day of the year the Summer Solstice, some call it Litha, and Swedes call it Midsommer. I recently moved to a town called Round Rock, Texas where many Swedes settled in the mid-1800s. So, I attended the historical society’s Midsommer festival on June 20th – this year’s Summer Solstice. Here is a picture of the majstång(maypole), sometimes called a MidSommer Pole.

Look closely and you'll see at least one 19th-century Swedish settler and a few Medieval Vikings. 

But back to my own culture, and what I usually write—sci-fi and fantasy romances about—the ancient Celts, who celebrated the sun’s movements on the longest day of the year with Solstice Festivals. The word Solstice comes from the Latin sol, meaning sun, and sisto, which means to stand still. But Alban Hefin, the name the Druids gave to the Celtic Summer Solstice, means the Light of the Shore or Light of Summer. The shore, because it’s where the elements of land, water, and sky meet, which the druids considered a place that’s in-between worlds, and the light of the summer, because that’s when it shines at its broadest. The Druids saw the Summer Solstice as a time to open a path towards light and abundance and banish evil spirits through the light of the sun. They’d pray for a good harvest, as it was halfway through the growing season. Also, as the Summer Solstice was seen as a time of change, nature, and new beginnings, it was associated with fertility. Feasting and dancing took place, and bonfires were lit in celebration. And lovers traditionally clasped hands and leaped over bonfires. Some believed the higher the couple jumped, the higher their crops would grow. The ancient Celts also told and acted out the legend of the Oak King versus the Holly King. On the 21st of June, the Oak King is at his strongest. But his power gradually weakens until the Winter Solstice on December 21, when the Holly King reigns again. In many regions (especially Europe), June 24 marks the midpoint of the growing season, halfway between planting and harvest, and is called Midsummer or Midsommer. People throw festivals for Midsummer where they feast, dance, and sing.

The Unicorn and the Druidess is set in Iron Age Britain during the Summer Solstice

The Unicorn and the Druidess: Dridry and the Beast, Book 4

At Summer Solstice, people aren’t what they seem—they could be…a unicorn…a god…or someone you fall in love with.

Druidess Maelona pursues a unicorn into the woods and returns with a runaway slave boy she takes under her wing. Before she can go back to look for the unicorn, a handsome stranger ignites a fiery attraction within her. But she can tell he’s keeping something from her. She suspects that he may be a Roman spy. God Epon’s blood burns at first sight of the gorgeous Druidess. Goaded by his desire for her he passes through the portal from the otherworld as a unicorn.

He runs into the forest, and she gives chase. There, he shapeshifts into human form so he can get to know her better. Plus, to win her trust, he fights the Romans and saves her tribe.

But will he and Maelona be able to overcome the surmountable odds of a romance —between a mortal and an immortal—as anything more than a summertime tryst? 

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